Jeff O'Neill

[Langdon Alger]

Well I barely saw Gilmour play but I'll take your word on that.

O’neill was nothing like Gilmour.

 

[MS]

wow that might be the most flattering comparison anybody has ever made on behalf of the, er, o-dog. even more than when he was drafted and they called him a bigger doug gilmour.

Yeah, I remember those comparisons which are laughable in hindsight.

I find O'Neill vs. Jerome Iginla to be a bit of a fascinating comparison. Similar raw skillsets drafted in the 1st round a year apart, and to a point their careers were on roughly the same track - their 1999-2001 seasons are nearly identical statistically. But eventually you see the difference between what one guy accomplishes as a dedicated high-character overachiever and the other accomplishes as a lazy underachiever coasting on his early success.

 

[scott clam]

Did O'Neill have anything resembling a defensive game in junior?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Yeah, I remember those comparisons which are laughable in hindsight.

I find O'Neill vs. Jerome Iginla to be a bit of a fascinating comparison. Similar raw skillsets drafted in the 1st round a year apart, and to a point their careers were on roughly the same track - their 1999-2001 seasons are nearly identical statistically. But eventually you see the difference between what one guy accomplishes as a dedicated high-character overachiever and the other accomplishes as a lazy underachiever coasting on his early success.

apparently jeff o'neill was publicly salty about not making the 2002 olympic team. can you imagine if he'd gotten the late orientation camp spot that iginla famously got? he would have been in the mix.

that invitation showed iginla he belonged with the best of the best and he learned a ton from it. he showed up to training camp that fall ready to go and ran away with the scoring race early, cementing himself as a superstar, easily making the olympic team, then playing a key role on the top line en route to the gold medal, eventually putting together a hall of fame career.

what would o'neill have done with that opportunity? probably show up fat and say something stupid to alienate gretzky before the first scrimmage.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

I don't exactly follow sports media, so can someone please fill me in on his public persona?

His on-air persona is a know-it-all blowhard that tries to be controversial and funny and abrasive and fails at all of it.

 

[JianYang]

He seems to be a pretty big hockey personality these days.

I never followed his career too closely until the end (when he played for TOR), but looking at his stats, they seem kind of underwhelming for how much attention he received in his prime (my recollection is he was talked about as if he was a budding star circa 2001 or so, but I could be wrong).

He was sub-40 point player in his first four NHL seasons and a 34-42 point player in his last three. However, in the middle of his career he had a nice run of four consecutive seasons of more than 60 points and at least 25 goals. His goal scoring peaked at 41 goals in 2001. His plus/minus looks really bad even if you account for the fact that he played primarily (if not exclusively) for average to poor teams. He was -115 in 821 NHL games and was a minus player in every season except two (ironically, he was a plus player in his final NHL season, which ended with him being a healthy scratch on a regular basis).

Did he have a somewhat disappointing playing career (in the NHL) or did he do fine for himself with those 60+ point seasons?

Is he a "big" hockey personality? I see him more of a local market talking head in the Toronto area.

 

[sabremike]

He shit on us Whalers fans in an interview after the move so he can go kiss my rosey red arse.